Friday afternoon snack, beer and Persian flatbread
And kept it healthy with bacon waffles with bananas for dinner
The weekend wouldn’t be complete without a pie. That’s a peanut butter and jelly pie on a pretzel crust. Want to know how to make it?
Last week, I planted some tomato seeds. They sprouted!!!
And then I hung out with this guy. He was super fussy, but he just wanted to be held.
Later today… More waffles!!
How was your weekend? Any highlights?
Category: Uncategorized
Traveling: Planning a Trip to Peru
My blog is a food blog. I know this, you know this, we all know this, but it’s also a little bit about me. And you want to know something about me?
I love to travel.
To me, traveling is more than just a set of experiences. It’s an enormous privilege that I’ve been lucky to have a large part of my life. Starting with going to Guatemala every summer as a kid, then having my parents tote me around with them on various trips (Brazil, Europe, Caribbean), then learning to go places on my own (like Argentina and India). Even just since I’ve had this blog, you’ve followed me to:
Mexico:
- I went to Chiapas for a week to work on a project while in Grad School. I didn’t tell my parents I was going, because I thought they’d freak out. That’s one of my biggest regrets. Not the trip, but the not telling my parents part.
Rome:
- I went to Rome from January til June of 2011.
I worked at a UN Agency and ate too much pasta and Nutella. There were also a few side trips, like Amalfi
Tuscany
China:
Last year I took a 2 week trip to China, and it was pretty awesome.
This time, I’ve got the travel bug again.
Two weeks ago, I bought a plane ticket to Peru. Last week, I booked a 4-day trip on the Inca Trail.
So this time, instead of just giving you a lighting recap like I did with China. I’d like to document the trip planning experience for myself to remember and for the world to know.
I think a lot of people have this idea that traveling is too scary, or too expensive, but honestly with some saving strategies, I think anyone can take a fun trip. I’m not Mr. Money Bags. If I can take a trip, you probably can too. It just takes some planning. So ready for some tips?
Where was your last destination? Where are you going next?
Epic Banana Bundt Cake
I’ve rewritten this post about three times, trying to come up with something as epic as the recipe to come. But I can’t. My brain is asking me for a rest.
Between work and blogging, my creative juices are dried up, in terms of writing that is. Because recipes… I’ve got sooooo many for you to look forward to. But first let’s talk about bananas.
I’m a banana fiend. I eat one daily. I learned it from my mother, she probably eats two daily. That’s ok.
Bananas are on the top of my list of things I think are out of this world, let’s talk about my other favorite thing on the planet: cake.
And combine the two… Banana Cake! Why not? In fact, this cake was so good it had to be made twice. It really was THAT good.
Ok I’ll be honest. I really made this twice, because the first time around I hated my pictures. It was a labor of love (or gluttony or vanity?) to make it again, but that just means I know the recipe is extra perfect for you.
I know everyone and their mother has a recipe for banana cake (and no, this is NOT banana bread).
Even if you think it looks similar, trust me. This is definitely banana cake. What’s the difference?
Texture. Banana bread is dense. This is lighter, and it has an icing. Icing goes on cake. True story.
Epic Banana Bundt Cake
2 cups + 2 tbsp all purpose flour
2 tbsp corn starch
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon plus pinch of salt
1 1/3 cup sugar
1 cup canola oil
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 bananas, very ripe and mashed
1/2 cup milk (I used almond milk)
1 package vanilla instant pudding (3.4 oz)
Icing/Glaze:
3 tbsp butter, melted
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 tbsp heavy cream (or milk)
1/2 tsp vanilla (optional)
1-2 tsp of water for thinning, if necessary
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 tbsp heavy cream (or milk)
1/2 tsp vanilla (optional)
1-2 tsp of water for thinning, if necessary
Pre-heat oven to 350F.
In a bowl, sift together flour, corn starch, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside. Grease and flour a bundt pan (or any other pan you choose to make this in, I’ve also made this in two 9 inch pans, baking times adjusted).
Using a mixer beat together sugar and oil. Beat in eggs, one at a time until fluffy (about 2 minutes). Beat in vanilla and bananas. Start adding some of the flour mixture, about 1/4 cup at a time, alternating adding milk. Once all the flour is in the batter, beat in the instant pudding. Once combined, pour batter into prepared bundt pan.
Bake 45 minutes. Then turn the oven down to 325F and continue to bake until golden and cooked through (usually another 15-20 minutes, but this will depend on your oven). Once fully baked, remove from oven and allow to cool completely.
Once cooled, make glaze by combining all ingredients. The pour glaze over cake.
I didn’t actually pour, I did the spoon/drizzle method, because I think it looks better than pouring.
Serve and enjoy!
This cake goes great with a cup of coffee and a good book. It’s also fantastic served to a friend with a little bit of gossip.
Truth be told, I’m not sure if I’m half monkey or something, but I want to keep making this cake, over and over and over. It’s a good idea, because I seriously think this might be my new favorite cake.
Stay tuned for lots of good new recipes and other fun things… like maybe some trip planning. How does that sound?
Cóctel de Camarón: Shrimp! Yes, Please!
So today, was a crazy day. Ok it totally wasn’t crazy. I was just exhausted. I somehow had the bright idea of going to crossfit twice in a 12 hour time span… I hurt real bad right now. I don’t recommend it. Give yourself at least 24 hours between workouts. It’s a good idea.
But work outs aside, today was a bizarre day for me in terms of personal realizations. Way back when, I used to use SparkPeople to track calories, but I hadn’t logged in for almost a year. So this morning, I randomly did…
I saw my last log in was after I got back from Italy where I ate my weight (and then some) in Nutella, Pasta and Gelato for nearly 6 months. Since then, I’ve lost 18 pounds. That’s kind of a lot on someone who is only 5’3″
I guess getting back home, eating normal meals and exercising a few times a week served me well (even if Paleo didn’t…).
So in honor of the fact that my butt (among other things) shrank, let me tell you about an actual meal (as much as I love cake, it’s not a meal) that is more or less balanced, light and delicious too.
I would consider this to be moderately healthy. Depending on what you serve with it that is…
It involves shrimp, tomatoes, onions and a few splashes of (unhealthy) secret ingredients:
Cóctel de Camarón
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 onion, diced
1 lb Shrimp, peel on
2 cups clamato
1-2 tbsp ketchup
2 tbsp orange soda
2-3 limes
2 tomatoes, diced
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
Salt
1 Avocado, sliced
Tostadas, for serving
In a blender (I used my magic bullet), blend together 1/4 of an onion (reserve remaining diced onion) and 3 garlic cloves with some water. Once it’s smooth, add to a sauce pan. Fill with water until about 2-3 inches from the top. Add some salt (or a pinch of bouillon) and bring to a boil. In the meantime, rinse your shrimp and place in a metal mesh strainer.
Cook shrimp in the broth by dipping the strainer into the broth, like this…
Once the shrimp is cooked (pink all over, be careful to not overcook), place in a bowl over some ice. You might have to do this in batches.
Next take about 2 cups of the cooking broth and place in a large bowl.
Add about 2 cups of clamato, ketchup, lime juice and orange soda. Be careful, it’s a science. Taste it along the way to see how it is.
Stir it all together and set aside. Next peel your shrimp (alternatively you could peel your shrimp before cooking then put the skins in the broth to help give it more flavor). Now you’re ready to assemble.
Start by putting a good amount of diced tomato (1/2 cup?), onions, cilantro and Serrano chili in your bowl. Then add the shrimp and avocado. Last pour the broth/clamato mixture over your shrimp. You want a good amount in there because it gives it great flavor.
From there, you’re pretty much ready to go. But don’t forget one important thing…
A beer. Because life is all about balance and a cold beer tastes great with this dish.
Serve with tostadas, extra lime, salt and hot sauce (optional). This will serve 2-3 people.
Whoever said that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach as probably right, but they forgot that the way to a woman’s heart is the same direction. I wish I could take credit for this, but I can’t. It was made entirely by an awesome boyfriend who makes ridiculously tasty things.
He makes me generally healthy meals, while I make him cookies and pies.
Clearly, a little bit of both is necessary. Eat some shrimp and vegetables, as well as some cookies and wine.
What was the last healthy meal you had?
Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Until about 5 days ago, I thought “brown butter” was a crock of shit.
I hate to be crass, but let’s be honest, food bloggers are some of the best bullshitters I know. Don’t worry, I’m include myself in that sweeping comment.
I mean really, we love to make basic things and give them a fancy name that hipsters will repin like crazy and drive traffic to our sites.
Examples:
Chocolate Pudding with Peanut Butter Mousse and Maple Candied Bacon = Chocolate Pudding with stuff sprinkled on it
Spinach-Quinoa-Peach Salad with Honey-Sage Vinaigrette= a salad with fruit and grains
You’re welcome.
I’m just calling it like it is. And you know what hipsters love?
Butter. Especially brown butter.
So for a long time, I avoided anything with brown butter, because it just sounded sort of silly, but then on Friday I was bored and I needed to make dessert for the next day. So I thought to myself, why not give it a shot?
At worst it, it’s still just a damn cookie. At best, it’s an amazing cookie.
I won’t lie. It’s a pretty amazing cookie.
Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
adapted from Food and Wine
1 stick of butter
1 cup + 2 tbsp all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup dark chocolate chips
In a pan, melt butter over medium heat. Allow to brown, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, transfer to large bowl and allow to cool to room temperature. In the meantime, combine flour, salt, and baking soda in a bowl and set aside.
Once the butter has cooled, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. Add 1 egg at a time, then vanilla and continue to be beat for about a minute. Add in flour mixture. Mix until almost combined. Fold in chocolate chips until dough is just combined.
Place dough in the freezer while oven preheats to 350F.
Once oven has pre-heated, form dough into walnut sized balls. Place on parchment paper-lined pan and bake for 8-10 minutes, or until golden around the edges.
Remove from oven, leave on pan for a few minutes then transfer to a cooling rack until cool. Then serve! This recipe makes about 20-24 small ish cookies. If you want larger cookies, bake longer and you’ll probably get about 10.
So I’m going to go ahead and tell you that these are great.
I’m going to swallow my pride and admit I was wrong. Brown butter is pretty tasty. They weren’t lying when they said it gives it a nice nutty flavor.
Ok now be a hipster and…
Layer Cakes: Tips, Tricks and Recipes
I love cake. and pie. Cakes and Pies.
Ok but really I think cakes are awesome. I also think they’re super labor intensive so I get why people buy them instead of make them, but I really think more people should take up cake making.
This past weekend, I made three layer cakes.
So from my experience of making three cakes in a row, I wanted to share with you a few tips and tricks to making the perfect layers cakes, along with some of my favorite cake recipes.
1. Use the right cake pans.
I used to have these fancy cake pans from Sur La Table, and I’ll be honest… they sucked. My cakes were always uneven. First I thought my oven temperature was just weird, but then I moved and my cakes were still crooked. So I bought new cake pans. I bought the cheap Wilton ones at Michael’s (I say cheap because I never walk into that store without a 40% off coupon), and my cakes are perfectly even now. So my tip: go for aluminum cake pans!
2. Parchment paper IS your friend and always grease and flour your pans.
Wouldn’t it suck to do all that work and have them stick to the pan? Yes. It’s happened to me, and it sucks.
Ever since, I will never make a cake without parchment paper. Honestly, my least favorite part of making cakes is this step. I feel like I’m in kindergarten cutting out parchment paper circles. But it’s a must. Just do it.
3. Bake in advance and freeze.
My cakes were all for Saturday and Sunday. I started baking on Tuesday. A cake sitting out from Tuesday til Saturday would be dry and gross, but a cake wrapped in parchment paper, double wrapped in plastic wrap then frozen, is still great for the weekend. The trick is to make sure the cake is completely cooled before you freeze it. You can flash cool it on a cooling rack in the freezer, but before you wrap it up. Just make sure it has cooled completely before you wrap it up, if not you’ll get condensation that freezes into ice. Not cute.
4. A cake without a filling is no fun.
One of the cakes I made was lemon cake with a raspberries and cream filling. The others were chocolate and banana cakes with peanut butter filling. Feel free to make your fillings a day or two in advance, cover them with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
5. Leveling the cake is important
I finally broke down and bought a cake leveler. It’s a good idea to level the cakes before you freeze them. The leveler is basically a metal wire, it’s not super strong and probably won’t cut through a frozen cake. You can also just use a knife…
6. ALWAYS do a crumb coat
A fine layer of frosting before you actually frost is essential. It holds it all together and prevents you from getting a crumby cake. If your crumb coat is going on a frozen cake it’s even easier because the crumb coat gets firm faster. Once you’ve got a crumb coat, stick the cake in the freezer for a few minutes to let the coat harden before you frost. EXTRA: Put pieces of parchment paper under the cake so you don’t have to worry about a dirty plate/dish. You just pull out the pieces when you’re done frosting and you have a clean plate/cake circle!
7. Use a long knife to frost
I’m not fancy. My cakes aren’t perfect, but I think they do the job. I don’t have all those fancy spatulas you can buy to frost cakes. I use the 8″ slicer knife that came in my knife block. It’s not serrated and it’s long. Gets the job done. A small butter knife makes it hard to get smooth edges all around, so I recommend a long knife.
8. Use cake circles and boxes
To make your cakes go from homemade to slightly fancier, go to Michael’s or any cake supply store and buy cardboard cake circles and a box. I took one of the cakes to a restaurant and the waitress was surprised to find it was homemade. On that note, if you go to a birthday dinner at a restaurant, call ahead and make sure they don’t charge you to cut the cake. I had heard of corkage fees but never of cake cutting fees. Apparently it’s a thing in Hollywood. Just saying.
Remember, no matter what your cake looks like, it should taste great. So on that note, here are some of my favorite cake recipes:
- Hershey’s Chocolate Cake: This is my go to chocolate cake recipe. I follow it exactly and it never fails.
- Epicurious Banana Layer Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting: This recipe is great! I make a few changes everytime, usually adding more liquid. Today, I made a super variation of it, blog post on that coming soon!
- Epicurious Moist Yellow Cake (I easily turn this into a lemon cake by replacing half buttermilk with lemon juice, adding some lemon zest and a pack of lemon jello instant pudding)
- Rum Layer Cake: This cake is probably one of the most delicious cakes I’ve ever made. Everyone loves it. It’s just plain tasty.
As for fillings, which per #2 is essential, get creative. Here are some ideas I love:
- Mix lemon curd with cream cheese and whipped cream for a quick and delicious lemon mousse filling. Throw some fresh raspberries in the mix and it’s a perfect filling for a lemon cake.
- Chocolate Ganache is always a winner. Try adding orange zest or passionfruit puree to it to spice up your normal chocolate cake
- Whipped Cream: Sometimes you just need simplicity. Whipped cream in the middle of a fluffy cake is divine. Try it.
- Mix peanut butter, cream cheese, condensed milk and whipped cream for a delicious peanut butter mousse filling. Oh. My. Goodness. Amazing. Just try it.
Remember these tips next time a birthday, party, holiday rolls around. Making cakes doesn’t have to be crazy hard. It can be super fun!
What’s your favorite cake combination?
I’m currently a huge fan of banana cake with peanut butter filling and cream cheese frosting!
Hot Air Baloon-themed Baby Shower
I totally forgot to tell you all about something. If you follow me on Instagram, you might notice that I keep posting pictures of a baby.
That’s Graham. My nephew. He’s so stinkin’ cute.
Sometimes he matches my boyfriends. They’re both pretty stinkin’ cute.
But before Graham was born, I threw a baby shower for my sister, in anticipation of Graham. That’s what I forgot to tell you about.
It was cute and hot air ballooned theme, with lots of ideas from Pinterest. So in case you’re looking to throw a baby shower, here are some ideas.
Paper lanterns with cardboard take out containers make great hanging decor. And obviously, you need a lot of food…
We had fruit salad, green salad, as well as sandwiches, appetizers, and guava and cheese pastries from Porto’s Bakery, a cake and cupcakes.
The cake almost looked awesome, but I’ll be honest the bakery we got it from pretty much sucked. The fondant cracked a bunch and when I called to complain, they didn’t really want to listen to my complaint. Bad service for an over priced cake. But aside for them blah cake, there were awesome cupcakes made by me.
And oreo truffle pops. If anyone’s interested, I can remake these and give a tutorial on how to make them look cute. Any takers?
In addition to the food, we set up a welcome table
which included a guest book and a Fujifilm Instax Mini. Guests took a picture of themselves, then filled out a card with wishes for the baby (which I got on Etsy in case you’re interested)
Then they put their photo next to their completed card in the album!
It worked out well!
The center pieces were simple, candles with red flowers to fit the red and blue theme.
And of course, the favors were pies in jars made with lots of love from Foodologie.
Pinterest made planning this baby shower fun, but also a little more stressful. I think Pinterest raises everyone’s expectations of what an event should be. What do you think? Does Pinterest give you unrealistic expectations about parties?
I can’t even imagine what my wedding would be like!
Do you have any events coming up? Are you using Pinterest to plan?
Mini Road Trip: Grand Canyon
Doesn’t seem like bloggers are always on trips? Maybe it’s just the blogs I read? But seems like they’re always fluttering around the country.
Aside from my trip to China, I haven’t really gone anywhere for a while.
This weekend, I decided to be one of the cool kids and went on a semi-last-minute trip to the Grand Canyon.
That’s about 7 and a half hours way from Orange County, CA.
Left on Friday, got back on Sunday.
Clearly, I did a lot of looking. I also ate some Buffalo Jerky… tasted like beef jerky to me…
There were also some super cool Native American ruins.
with tiny doors…
And some two-door not-so-native American relics…
Totally worth the drive
Caldo de Pollo (Guatemalan Chicken Stew)
If you asked me what my favorite food is, I would spend forever trying to decide and ask you a million follow up question… is it my favorite food to eat all the time? or for a special occasion? Savory or sweet? Appetizer? Main dish?
If you were my boyfriend you’d probably just say, “answer the question.”
To which I would respond “Caldo de Pollo, if we’re talking about what I like to eat on a normal day.”
I have a habit of not answering questions, or if I do, qualifying that response with a million follow up excuses as to why I can’t really answer the question.
I’m very indecisive. So here it is. If I had to choose a favorite food to eat all the time, it would be this: Caldo de Pollo.
That just means chicken stew, but this is how my family (and I think most Guatemalan families) makes it.
The vegetables are all in big chunks and there’s a bit of chicken in there.
It’s probably the easiest thing in the world to make. It’s also delicious and healthy. Whenever I go home, I want my mom to make two things: black beans and caldo de pollo. It’s just delicious.
Caldo de Pollo
1 lb chicken thighs, bone in (boneless is fine too)
1 bunch cilantro
1 tomato, whole
1 onion, ends cut off and peeled
1 chayote (güisquil), quartered
1 cabbage, cut into 6 wedges
3 carrots, peeled and cut in half
1-2 celery ribs
a few pieces of fresh or frozen corn*
2-3 small potatoes
1 small bag frozen yucca
salt
Avocado, Lime, Sour Cream (for serving)
Fill a medium saucepan half way with water, bring to a boil. Add frozen yucca.
Boil until tender, it should take about 30 minutes. This is crucial. If you put the yucca in the water before it boils, the yucca will stay tough. Make sure your yucca is tender and keep it in the freezer until the water is boiling, then add it to the water.
While the yucca cooks, start the rest of the soup. The beauty of this soup is that it’s fast and doesn’t involve a lot of chopping.
Big chunks of carrot and güisquil (güisquil in Guatemala, but chayote in Mexico so that’s what you’ll probably see it labeled as in US grocery stores) are appreciated. But the cabbage is my favorite part. Not familiar with guisquil/chayote? It looks sort of like a pear from the outside:
And sort of on the inside, just quarter it and cut out the seed in the middle
In a large post, add all of the ingredients. Add enough water to cover the ingredients. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 45 minutes or until cabbage and potatoes are cooked through. The take a fine mesh strainer, take out the tomato, peppers and cilantro. Pour some of the broth on it and using a spoon, mash the tomato, peppers and cilantro to get the most flavor out of it, then discard. Add yucca you cooked separate to the pot.
Serve with lime, sour cream and avocado. I usually just eat it with lime and avocado, but sour cream makes it super tasty, just mix it into your bowl just before eating.
*I don’t like corn, so I never use it, but most people (including my mother) add it.
I like to pack mine up into 6-7 containers (that’s how many meals a big pot makes), and take them for lunch for the week.
Healthy and delicious lunch that is totally Paleo friendly if you omit the potato and yucca. Even though yucca is a root, I think it’s too starchy for Paleo.
But seriously, what makes this delicious is the lime and avocado.
It takes a regular soup and makes it out of this world. Don’t skimp on that!
So what’s your favorite food? Something you could eat everyday and not get tired of.
30 Day Paleo Challenge: Ending Early
So I started the 30 Day Paleo Challenge 14 days ago.
Unfortunately, I’m cutting it off at the half way point.
I feel guilty for not committing to the full challenge, but then I remembered this is just a blog. It’s not my job. I don’t get paid to do this. My life doesn’t depend on it. It’s for fun. This challenge became more than not fun and everyone around me noticed.
My boss asked if I was depressed. My mom asked why I kept it up if I wasn’t getting positive results. My poor boyfriend. I don’t even know what he was thinking.
Ultimately, my blog is not a diet blog. It’s a food blog.
I love food. Cooking and sharing what I make is just fun, so I want to keep it that way.
But all that said, I wanted to share my thoughts on my two week attempt at Paleo:
1. Paleo is just NOT for me.
I think everyone’s body and metabolism is different and you need to find what works for you. I was hungry all the time, unsatisfied, cranky and I had strange bowel issues (that I’ve NEVER had before) that I never talked about because that seemed like TMI. If you haven’t found what works for you yet, then Paleo’s worth a try. Even if you have found what works for you, sometimes trying something new (like Paleo) is a good reminder of that.
2. Paleo was just too much meat for me.
When I say meat, I mean any animal protein (including chicken and fish, not just beef and pork). I used to be vegetarian. Even though I’m not anymore, I’m used to eating beans 3-4 times a week. Honestly, I felt disgusting eating as much meat as I did during these past few days. This is definitely not an environmentally-friendly diet. I’m ready to eat beans.
3. There are some things I’ll keep.
I don’t think I’ll go back to putting milk in my coffee, and honestly I really enjoyed the paleo pancake and green smoothie breakfast. I’ll probably keep that up instead of yogurt. I felt great in the mornings after eating that, and I would stay full for a good while. So there’s a plus!
4. I didn’t lose weight, and that’s ok.
I think I didn’t lose weight because it wasn’t that drastically different from my previous diet, and I don’t have that much weight to lose. I’m used to packing my lunch and cooking from scratch. So that wasn’t that big a change. The biggest change was the elimination of beans and tortillas (I don’t even buy bread or cereal). I think if I wanted to have the drastic results that other people talk about on paleo, I would have had to eliminated fruit and nuts. That means basically only eating meat and vegetables. That’s limiting WAYYY too much.
5. I need to make dinner.
I used to just sort of snack for dinner, and that made me want sweets. I realized that when I eat a full meal for dinner, I don’t want dessert as much. Lesson learned: cook dinner, sit down and eat it!
6. I can go without sugar for a week, no problem.
I did it for 2 weeks just now. I passed up cake at a wedding, didn’t eat chocolate chips, eliminated all added sugars, and I didn’t die! I originally wanted to give this a try because I thought I ate too much sugar. I think it’s totally feasible (and healthy) for me to stick to once a week treats. I just proved to myself that I can do it for longer than a week. I just need to stick to it. Saying NO isn’t that hard.
7. I know my body.
As someone who has maintained a 50lb weight loss (fluctuated 10-15lbs over the years but managed to keep it off), I know what works for me. Having everything in moderation keeps my happy, healthy and satisfied. It encourages me to exercise more and not overeat. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with eating bread, cheese, wine, cake, cookies. You just shouldn’t be eating it everyday. But like I said, that’s me and my body. Paleo might work great for others.
8. I’d rather not binge.
Last night, I had 4 and a half pieces of pizza, about 3 pieces of cake, and a bunch of flat bread with eggplant dip. More than I need to eat in a day, and while I was happy to eat carbohydrates again, I didn’t feel good eating that much. I can’t remember the last time I had a binge like that. I’d finally kept it under control and gotten by by practicing moderation. Feeling deprived makes me binge. If I had a totally normal relationship with food, then cutting out food groups probably would be fine. But let’s be honest, I don’t. But that’s just me and my issues.
Overall, Paleo was a good experiment, but it just wasn’t for me. I know what works for me.
I remember the first day I started a diet, over 10 years ago (funny the things we remember, right?), we had guests over that night. My mom made something delicious that was totally NOT diet-friendly. She said not to worry. Have dinner with everyone and continue the diet tomorrow.
That’s the best advice I ever got.
This weekend, my mom gave me a large pieces of cake that she brought from Guatemala. My aunt in Guatemala made it. I don’t know how she does it, but I swear it’s the best cake on Earth. I cut the large piece is half, put each piece in a ziploc bag and stuck them in the freezer.
The pieces are waiting for me for that moment when I really want it and it’ll taste best, not just when it’s there.
Cake in the freezer. That’s what works for me.
Thanks for following me on my Paleo experiment. It’s been fun (or something).
Now, back to normal blogging?
UPDATE: In case you’re curious… here’s an update on Life After the Paleo Challenge…
Foodologie 